


last-ditch effort

by mixtapestar



Series: Comfortween 2020 [16]
Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Confessions, Fix-It, M/M, Post-Season/Series 04, Resurrection, Secrets, Underworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27056656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixtapestar/pseuds/mixtapestar
Summary: Eliot goes after Quentin.
Relationships: Quentin Coldwater/Eliot Waugh
Series: Comfortween 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948594
Comments: 18
Kudos: 101
Collections: Comfortween 2020





	last-ditch effort

**Author's Note:**

> For Comfortween Day 16: I Need You To Know (confessing deep secrets because of delirium or fear they won’t survive). I took a couple liberties with this prompt, but I think the spirit of the prompt fits best this way.

"You told him _what_?"

"I told him what he needed to hear to move on."

"Jesus, Penny," Eliot says, pacing. No wonder it's been so hard to get a line on Q. "They've really got you drinking the Kool-Aid down here, huh?"

"Enough. Sit down. If you wanna get out of here, you're gonna have to stop railing on me and start doing some serious reflecting."

Penny's right, unfortunately. _You must face death properly with your arms open to bring back the one you love_. Fucking prophetic bunny. Eliot much prefers the messenger ones, with their four-word limitations: simple, to the point.

The first part is easy: Indiana, childhood trauma, Logan Kinnear, all the usual bullshit. But he knows he'll have to dig deeper to appease Penny. He just wishes he'd known it'd be _Penny_ he'd be making these confessions to, when they were planning this. Unloading on some stranger was one thing, maybe even something therapeutic. But Penny 40? Especially after hearing how he practically pushed Quentin through the door. Eliot doesn't want to tell him _shit_.

"Why don't we talk about your death?"

Eliot waves a hand. "Spell gone wrong. Could happen to anyone."

Penny pins him with a knowing look. "Did it? Go wrong?"

Eliot sighs. "You clearly already know, so no, so far it's gone exactly right."

"Good. Now we're getting somewhere. Why don't you keep it going by telling me something I _don't_ know?"

"I'm in love with Quentin." Eliot raises an eyebrow triumphantly when Penny stumbles at that. "Didn't know that one, huh?" He smirks, but forces himself to get serious. "That's not really a secret, though I certainly treated it as one. Quentin deserves better than my love, but he's got it anyway."

"What's the secret, then?"

Eliot sighs. He's been trying to nail this down ever since they finalized the spell. Here goes everything, he supposes. "I lived most of my life trying to be something. Free, popular, worthy. All these ideals of what other people seemed to have, and I wanted. And then I got to live a life without any of those expectations. I was able to just… be." Their life at the mosaic was far from perfect, but with the perspective of what was perhaps his whole life? It was the closest he ever came. "I was happy, then. It took me a while to figure that out. It wasn't just that things were stripped away; it was him. He made me feel like I _was_ all of those things… just by loving me." Eliot scoffs, wiping the tears out of his eyes. "It sounds so cliche. But it's the truth."

Penny shrugs. "Cliches are built from truth."

"Well, either way. I realized it too late. My one great attempt to get him back is what made me lose him in the long run." It was easy to blame the Monster for everything that happened, but Eliot was the one that set those gears in motion. "So now I'm here. One last-ditch effort to make it right."

Penny offers him a hand. "I think you're ready to pass through."

They enter a warehouse-like room with a single doorway in the middle. It's all a bit too minimalist for Eliot's tastes, but it gets the point across.

He approaches the door, slowly, feeling like finality is almost upon him, and he still has no idea if anything he's done is working. Will Quentin just wake up back home? Will Eliot ever know?

But then the veil parts, and he can see through the doorway. On the other side, Quentin is crystal clear, and the sight would almost be enough to have Eliot stepping through, except instead Quentin is barrelling toward him at top speed, waving his hands to stop him.

Eliot throws his arms out to stop his own momentum, grabbing the sides of the doorway, and the next thing he knows, he's being pushed to the ground with his arms full of Quentin.

"Don't—don't go through the doorway," Quentin says, clearly out of breath. He certainly _feels_ real, but Eliot isn't sure if he believes it.

"Q," he breathes, reaching out to touch his hair.

Somewhere behind them, Penny starts laughing uncontrollably. Eliot would be more concerned about it if he didn't have Quentin in his arms. "Of course it's you, Coldwater."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Quentin says, glaring up at Penny. Eliot touches his mouth, bringing Quentin's attention back to him.

"Sorry, I—" he whispers, but then Quentin is leaning down and pressing his lips against Eliot's. Eliot whimpers and wraps his arms firmly around Quentin, parting his lips and deepening the kiss until they're both moaning.

"Fuckin' hell," Penny murmurs. "Hey, don't make me get the hose."

Quentin pulls away, looking sheepish, but Eliot doesn't loosen his hold. He's not letting Quentin go until he's absolutely forced to. "I heard everything you said," Quentin whispers. "The way I feel about you sounds like a cliche, too."

Eliot grins.

"There's a fucking prophecy. We all hear it, when we take up this post. From the way I heard it, I figured it'd be another five or six hundred years. But no, it's you two losers."

"What's the prophecy?"

"'Two lovers, separated by great sacrifice, will be reunited when the second greets death with open arms.' Apparently that last part was literal, _of fucking course_. 'Their story will continue when the first crosses back over,' blah blah blah. _Unbelievable_."

Quentin's eyes fill with hope, and he glances behind himself to the veiled doorway. "I get to go back?"

Penny sighs heavily. "You both do."

"Wait, what?" Eliot says, his heart rate kicking up to high speed.

Quentin looks at him incredulously. "You came down here without knowing if you'd be able to go back?"

When Quentin says it like _that_ , it makes Eliot question his own motives. "It was unclear. There was a prophecy…?"

"Jesus fuck, El, we can't just keep trading our lives for each other."

"You're one to talk," Eliot says, but it's without heat. He can't get angry right now, with hope pumping through his veins like a drug.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road. You two can fuck it out up top where I don't have to watch."

"Oh please, you totally miss us," Eliot says, standing and helping Quentin up alongside him. _They get to go back together_.

Quentin laces his fingers through Eliot's and squeezes before addressing Penny. "Seriously, now that we know you're here—"

Penny rolls his eyes. "You're both getting a ridiculously rare second chance here. Don't fuck with that." He leads them back to the elevator, and the doors ding open.

"You know, you could just step on," Eliot points out, but Penny insists on staying. Totally drinking the Kool-Aid.

The doors slide closed, and Quentin clutches onto Eliot. "So how does this work?" he asks into Eliot's shoulder. "Do I just wake up? Will I be in the Mirror realm?"

"I have no idea," Eliot says, "but Q, there was a fucking _prophecy_ about us."

Quentin tilts his head up, a huge grin on his face. "Fuck yeah there was."

Eliot leans down to kiss him again, as everything fades to white.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love! <3


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